


Check it out. I'm a sailor soldier.

by Squirrel_Stone



Category: Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon | Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, One Day at a Time (TV 2017), Sailor Moon
Genre: Gen, Is this crack? Is this serious? I don't even know., Magic, Magic happens. The Alvarezes are not prepared., Post Sailor Stars, Racist Language, Senshi Elena Alvarez, Worldbuilding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-06
Updated: 2018-02-06
Packaged: 2019-03-14 18:24:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,706
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13595787
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Squirrel_Stone/pseuds/Squirrel_Stone
Summary: A look into Elena's beginnings as a sailor soldier, told in short scenes.





	Check it out. I'm a sailor soldier.

**Author's Note:**

> “I learned some really cool stuff about myself. Like I’m tough. I’m really tough.” –Elena Alvarez, “What Happened,” _One Day at a Time_

“Did you hear about the new sailor soldier in New York?”

 

Penelope peered over her daughter’s shoulder at the laptop, getting a quick gist of the news story. “New York?” she parroted. “I thought they were stationed in San Francisco.”

 

“Most of them are, but they went inactive after that Paris team showed up,” Elena explained. “There are all these theories about some sort of power transfer, but this is a new one entirely: Sailor Ganymede.”

 

Alex peered over and grinned. “She’s hot. Who are the sailor soldiers?”

 

Before Elena could lecture her brother about how the sailor soldiers were so much more than pretty faces, Lydia threw her curtains opened and gasped.

 

“You do not know who the soldados guardianes are?” she demanded. “Ay! I have failed as your abuelita!”

 

Penelope raised an eyebrow at her mother, then turned to her son. “There have been planetary soldiers throughout history, and they always end up where they’re needed. In the 50s and 60s, they were mostly known for assisting in evacuations, like in Cuba.”

 

Lydia nodded in agreement and walked over to the breakfast table, resting her arm on one of the chairs. “The guardian Saturn was undoubtedly one of the most handsome men I have ever met!”

 

“I bet the ones in San Francisco are the real deal, though,” Elena declared. “An all-women fighting force with powers that were _way_ stronger and more focused than any past group’s? That Paris team only showed up because that’s where a new supernatural enemy was.”

 

Alex frowned and pursed his lips. “Then why are you interested in this new one? Wouldn’t she just be another fake?”

 

Elena shook her head. “I don’t think so,” she replied. “There’s never been a lunar soldier for a planet other than Earth, and her uniform matches the ones from the team in San Francisco. Look.” She pointed out the uniform, a Japanese-style fuku with purple and green accents and the occasional hint of pink. “And she doesn’t have a mask! The real sailor soldiers never wore masks, and I bet it’s because they don’t need them. They have some sort of magic protecting them.”

 

“Didn’t Sailor V wear a mask?”

 

Briefly, Elena looked over her shoulder at her mother before turning back to her computer. “I think she was just some sort of temporary soldier,” she claimed. “She only showed up Tokyo for a month, Beijing for two months, and London for three weeks. Before she died, she got the Dark Kingdom on the defensive enough that they focused all their efforts on San Francisco instead of acting worldwide.”

 

“You do realize you sound like one of those Ancient Aliens guys, right?” Alex asked. “With the crazy conspiracies…”

 

Elena rolled her eyes. “I’m not saying those nutjobs are right, especially because most of their ideas are founded on racism and the idea that nonwhite cultures would have been unable to progress technologically without outside intervention, but there is some evidence to suggest there could have been life on the other planets in our solar system.” She looked around, only to see her family staring at her like she was crazy.

 

Lydia looked to Penelope, her face blank and unreadable. “Lupita, you get Elena an appointment with that psychiatricist you go to.”

 

“You hate psychiatrists!” Elena objected, arms out to her sides.

 

“Yes, I do,” Lydia confirmed, then turned to Penelope. “Call him.”

 

Elena fell back into the sofa with an indignant huff.

* * *

 

 

“So then I said-”

 

“Um, Elena?”

 

Elena pulled herself out of her rant to turn to her girlfriend. “Yeah?”

 

Syd winced, putting their weight on their right foot and leaning in. “Has it ever occurred to you that you might be getting a little obsessive over this?” they asked. “Like, I get that there’s a lot going on, but why the focus on the sailor soldiers? Especially this new one?”

 

For a moment, Elena just sat there on her bed, trying to come up with a good explanation- or rather, a good excuse. “Uh… I, uh…” She put a hand on her head, contemplating the issue, only to come up with nothing. “I don’t know. Why am I so obsessed with a sailor soldier living nearly three thousand miles away from here? The last time I was so interested in one of them was Sailor Neptune, back when she first appeared.”

 

“Didn’t she first show up in L.A. _then_ go to San Francisco?” Syd raised an eyebrow, worried they were about to send Elena further down the rabbit hole but unable to not bring it up.

 

“Yeah…” Elena pulled out her laptop and typed in a few keys. “She was only here for a month before she left…”

 

“Oh I don’t like that look.” Syd pulled back a little. “That’s a dangerous look.”

 

Elena scoffed. “This is a brilliant look!” she insisted. “Everyone always thought the sailor soldiers were adults, but what if they were teenagers working at the whim of their parents? Sailor V kept on moving because one of her parents had a contract job, not because of Dark Kingdom activity, and Sailor Neptune left L.A. after she was photographed kissing a girl.”

 

“So her parents sent her to conversion camp in _San Francisco_?” Syd asked skeptically. “Look, you’ve got some interesting ideas, but it’s also a really big leap.”

 

“Well maybe she ran away or got a scholarship to a school there.” Elena glanced to Syd, then back to her laptop. “I know it sounds crazy, but trust me. Those sailor soldiers are teenagers. Or at least they were when they started.”

 

Syd hesitated, a concerned look on their face. “Like I said… big leap. But if this is what’s interesting you, then I’m behind you 100%.”

 

Elena smiled at them. “Thank you.”

* * *

 

 

Elena had to hand it to Alex; he was getting better at handling the racist assholes from other schools. He walked past the tools with his head held high and eyes straight ahead, not giving them a second of his time.

 

“Build the wall! Build the wall! Build the wall!”

 

Alex was getting better at handling it. Elena was not.

 

“Hey!” she yelled, getting between her brother and the three hecklers. “Who taught you it’s okay to treat people like that, huh? We’re human beings, just like you! Arguably better than you if you really think it’s okay to talk that way.”

 

No one noticed that next to them, a fire hydrant shook.

 

One of the boys scoffed. “And what are you gonna do about it?” he asked. “You can’t risk getting arrested or you’ll get deported.”

 

“We’re both citizens, dumbass,” Elena retorted.

 

“Elena, don’t get into it with them,” Alex said quietly. “They’re just trying to start something.”

 

Elena laughed. “Oh, they started something, and now I’m gonna finish it!”

 

The top of the fire hydrant blew off, soaking all five teenagers. “The hell was that?” one of the hecklers asked.

 

“C’mon, man, let’s go,” another said.

 

Elena stood her ground, glaring at the boys until they turned and left.

 

“Did you do that?”

 

Elena jerked out of her reverie and turned to Alex. “Do what?” she asked.

 

“You know…” Alex gestured to the fire hydrant and mimicked an explosion. “That was a little too close to be a coincidence. So what’d you do? Rig it to blow?”

 

“What? No, of course not!” she objected. “It really was just a coincidence. Someone probably backed up the plumbing.”

 

“That’s not how it-”

 

“Let’s get upstairs; Mom’s already gonna kill us, so there’s no use in delaying the inevitable.”

 

The two trudged up the stairs, met by Penelope when they opened the door. “What the heck happened to you two?”

 

“Elena has superpowers.”

 

Elena rolled her eyes, letting Alex tell the story while she went back to her room to change. As she changed, she thought about the incident, so distracted that the mark on her hip almost escaped her attention.

 

Almost.

 

“Oh my God, Mom’s gonna kill me.”

 

“Why am I gonna kill you?”

 

Elena yanked her pants up, but it was too late. “N-nothing!”

 

Penelope stared for a minute, anger and disappointment written all over her face. “Nothing?” she parroted quietly. “Elena, was that a _tattoo_? And you better tell me the truth or I’ll leave you to Abuelita’s mercy.”

 

“I have no idea how I got it!” Elena insisted. “I swear, it wasn’t there this morning!” Reluctantly, she pulled the top of her pants down just a bit to reveal the black mark on her hip: a trident with a crossbar halfway between the bottom of the tongs and the end of the symbol. The mark of Neptune. Without warning, it faded into nothingness. “Ack!” Elena jumped and released her waistband, letting her pants snap back to their original position. “Oh my God. Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, Mom!”

 

Penelope stared for a moment, mouth agape. “Okay, we definitely need help.”

 

“From who!?” Elena demanded. “Oh my God, Alex was right, I did make that fire hydrant explode!”

 

“What’s with all the yelling?” Lydia asked, walking into the room, Alex not far behind.

 

“I heard the words ‘Alex was right?’”

 

Elena rolled her eyes and grabbed one of her pillows, throwing it at her brother. “Shut up! I cannot deal with you right now!” she snapped. “Sailor Neptune’s symbol just appeared on my hip and then vanished again; I am not equipped to deal with this!”

 

“What’s going on, everyone? We having a party in Elena’s room?” Schneider poked his head into the room. “You know, you’re normally in the living room.”

 

Penelope shook her head. “Not now, Schneider-”

 

“Elena has superpowers.”

 

“ALEX!”

 

Alex put his hands up defensively. “Were we not supposed to tell him?”

 

Schneider took in a sharp breath through clenched teeth. “Well, statistically speaking, it never ends well if a superhero reveals their powers to too many people, but you guys can trust me. So what’cha got? Super strength, flying, laser eyes?”

 

“Hydrokinesis.”

 

“ALEX!”

 

“What? He already knows you have powers…”

 

Elena let out a frustrated yell, and the water in the glass beside her bed shot up into the air before plummeting back down.

 

Everyone stared, immobilized by shock. “Ay, ay, ay,” Lydia muttered. “Do you want to give me another astroke?”

 

“No!” Penelope intervened, putting her arms out. “No more strokes! One crisis at a time!” She looked from the glass of water to Elena, unable to come up with the words to comfort her. “I got nothing. But it’s gonna be okay. We’re gonna work this out- somehow. Not sure how yet, but we will.”

 

Elena nodded her head rapidly. “Okay,” she agreed. “Working this out sounds good.”

 

“Alright, now come here,” Penelope said, holding her arms out for a hug. Elena embraced her, trembling with fear and shock.

* * *

 

 

“So I called in some favors, and I think I know someone who can help you with your problem!” Schneider cheered as he walked through the door.

 

Elena jerked her head up from her textbook, eyes wide. “Seriously?” she asked. “No more missing school? Cause that flu excuse is only gonna work for so long.”

 

“Hey, hey, hey, I’ll be the judge of that,” Penelope said, getting up from her chair. “Schneider, did you tell anyone about Elena’s powers?”

 

“No, no, of course not,” he assured them. “We were in the hospital together last time I went through rehab- he wasn’t going through rehab; he just had amnesia.”

 

Lydia raised an eyebrow. “We’re atrusting a man with no memory to fix this?” She took a sip of her coffee, trying to hide her obvious doubt.

 

“Well, you see, he kind of had this thing he did,” Schneider explained. “He could touch you and know everything about your life- even your past lives! He really freaked a lot of people out.”

 

“Were you still high when you saw this?” Elena asked. “Cause that might be the source of his powers.”

 

Schneider sighed and shook his head. “Okay, yes, I was still high. And drunk. And sleep deprived… But he and his wife are here this week on vacation, so we got together, and when he shook my hand, he asked about the girl with the water powers! How could he know about that if he didn’t have powers himself?”

 

Penelope put up one finger. “What exactly did he say?”

 

“He said ‘you have a tenant with hydrokinesis? Serena and I might be able to help her.’ So I told them to come by at six.”

 

“You told them where we live?” Penelope snapped. “Alright, time to pack up and get out!”

 

“Uh… hi.” Everyone turned to see a young, blonde woman, barely older than Elena, standing in the doorway. “You know, if you’re gonna talk about the magic stuff, I’d suggest closing the door. That’s how my friend’s mom found out about her.” She gave them a small smile and slid inside the apartment, closing the door behind her. “I’m Serena Shields. Darien’s parking the car right now and suggested I come up first- I’m a lot less intimidating.” She let out a nervous laugh, then her eyes fell on Elena. “You must be her.”

 

The color drained from Elena’s face, and she shook her head rapidly, jumping off the sofa. “Nope, no, no idea what you’re talking about.”

 

Serena gave her a sympathetic smile. “It’s alright, I’ve been in your position,” she said, voice soothing and calm. “If I’m right, we have a lot in common. We’ll have to wait for Darien to get up her for more evidence, but I can feel it. You’re a sailor solider.”

 

“A… what?” Elena asked. “What, like-like Sailor Moon and Sailor Neptune and Sailor Ganymede?”

 

“Yes,” Serena replied simply, a knowing smile playing at her face. “If you are and you have hydrokinesis, I can even narrow it down to one of five: Despina, Nereid, Proteus, Thalassa, or Triton.”

 

Elena dropped back down to the sofa, staring up at Serena.

 

_Knock, knock._

 

Serena glanced over her shoulder, then to Penelope. “May I?”

 

Penelope, too shocked to do anything else, just nodded. “Y-yeah.”

 

Serena opened the door, revealing a dark-haired man a few years older than her. “Hi, honey.” She got up on her tip toes, kissing him chastely before stepping aside to let him in. She closed the door, then turned back to the Alvarezes. “Darien has an ability called psychometry. He can recall things from others’ lives just by touching them.”

 

Darien nodded, confirming what Serena said. Without prompting, he looked to Elena. “You’re the one with hydrokinesis. Elena?” When she nodded, he spoke again. “If you’ll allow me, I can touch you and see if I can pull anything from your subconscious about your past life. It might not be exact, but it’ll give us some clues.”

 

“Do it,” Elena declared before anyone could object for her. “I want to know what’s going on.” She held out her hand, and Darien took it. After a moment, she couldn’t help but ask, “It’s Thalassa, isn’t it? When Serena said that, it just felt… I don’t know, it felt right. It felt like home.”

 

“Smart,” Darien declared. “You’re definitely Sailor Thalassa. In your past life, you were Taresa Corbet, a marchioness and hand-selected to be part of Neptune’s guard.”

 

“Wow,” Elena breathed, slowly taking her hand back from Darien. “That’s… intense.” She tilted her head at Darien. “How did you get this power?”

 

Darien let out a nervous laugh. “I was born with it, same as you were born with hydrokinesis. It was just waiting to come out.”

 

Serena cast a sly smile at him before looking to Elena. “We were alive in the Silver Millennium, too,” she explained. Then, she caught herself. “Ah, that’s the name of the age we were reincarnated from. He was from Earth, and I was from the moon.”

 

Elena watched Serena, the gears turning in her head. “If we were from different planets, why isn’t there life there anymore?”

 

“War,” Serena answered simply. “I’m sure you’ll start remembering things, but for now, all you need to know is that a war brought the Silver Millennium down.”

 

“Okay,” Elena breathed. “So… when do I start being a superhero?”


End file.
